Offloading method and apparatus

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the field of mobile communications technologies, and in particular, to an offloading method and an apparatus. In this solution, when a terminal is in a handover process, a destination cellular network node sends, to the terminal, configuration information of a WLAN AP managed by the destination cellular network node; and then the terminal selects a destination WLAN AP from WLAN APs managed by the destination cellular network node, and offloads data of the destination cellular network node to the destination WLAN AP. Therefore, the destination WLAN AP selected by the destination cellular network node can be received before a handover is completed, thereby ensuring service continuity and improving service quality of a terminal.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An offloading method, comprising:
 receiving, by a terminal, configuration information that is of a WLAN AP managed by a source cellular network node and that is sent by the source cellular network node; 
 receiving, by the terminal, an identifier that is of a to-be-activated WLAN AP and that is sent by the source cellular network node; 
 activating, by the terminal, the to-be-activated WLAN AP according to the identifier of the to-be-activated WLAN AP; 
 performing, by the terminal, configuration according to the configuration information of the WLAN AP managed by the source cellular network node; 
 receiving, by the terminal, configuration information that is of the WLAN AP managed by a destination cellular network node and that is obtained by the source cellular network node, wherein the WLAN AP has an attribute of receiving data sent by a cellular network radio access device or sending data to the cellular network radio access device; 
 selecting, by the terminal according to the configuration information of the WLAN AP managed by the destination cellular network node, a destination WLAN AP; and 
 offloading, by the terminal, data of the destination cellular network node to the destination WLAN AP. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , after the offloading, by the terminal, data of the destination cellular network node to the destination WLAN AP, further comprising:
 receiving, by the terminal, a release instruction message sent by the source cellular network node; and 
 releasing, by the terminal, configuration information of a WLAN AP managed by the source cellular network node. 
 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the receiving, by the terminal, the configuration information that is of the WLAN AP managed by the source cellular network node and that is sent by the source cellular network node comprises:
 receiving, by the terminal, the configuration information that is of the WLAN AP managed by the source cellular network node and that is sent by the source cellular network node by using a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message or a broadcast message. 
 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 1 , before the receiving, by the terminal, the configuration information that is of the WLAN AP managed by the source cellular network node and that is sent by the source cellular network node, further comprising:
 receiving, by the terminal, configuration information of an additional WLAN AP managed by the source cellular network node; or 
 receiving, by the terminal, changed configuration information of a WLAN AP whose corresponding configuration information is changed, wherein the WLAN AP is managed by the source cellular network node. 
 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the receiving, by the terminal, an identifier that is of the to-be-activated WLAN AP and that is sent by the source cellular network node comprises:
 receiving, by the terminal, an activation instruction that carries the identifier of the to-be-activated WLAN AP and that is sent by the source cellular network node. 
 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the receiving, by the terminal, an activation instruction that carries the identifier of the to-be-activated WLAN AP and that is sent by the source cellular network node comprises:
 receiving, by the terminal, the activation instruction that carries the identifier of the to-be-activated WLAN AP and that is sent by the source cellular network node by using an RRC reconfiguration message, a medium access control MAC control element message, or a scheduling control physical downlink control channel PDCCH message. 
 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein configuration information of a WLAN AP comprises one or any combination of the following:
 basic service set identifier (BSSID) information, MAC address information, service set identifier (SSID) information, frequency information, bandwidth information, or channel information. 
 
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the source cellular network node is any one of a base station, a single RAN coordinator (SRC), or an access controller (AC); and
 the destination cellular network node is any one of a base station, an SRC, or an AC. 
 
     
     
       9. A terminal, comprising:
 a receiver, configured to receive configuration information that is of a WLAN AP managed by a destination cellular network node and that is obtained by a source cellular network node, wherein the WLAN AP has an attribute of receiving data sent by a cellular network radio access device or sending data to the cellular network radio access device; and 
 a processor, configured to select a destination WLAN AP according to the configuration information of the WLAN AP managed by the destination cellular network node; and 
 to offload data of the destination cellular network node to the destination WLAN AP; 
 wherein the receiver is configured to: 
 receive the configuration information that is of the WLAN AP managed by the source cellular network node and that is sent by the source cellular network node; and 
 the offloading unit is further configured to: 
 perform configuration according to the configuration information of the WLAN AP managed by the source cellular network node; 
 wherein the receiver is configured to: 
 receive an identifier that is of the to-be-activated WLAN AP and that is sent by the source cellular network node; and 
 the terminal further comprises: an activation unit, configured to activate the to-be-activated WLAN AP according to the identifier of the to-be-activated WLAN AP. 
 
     
     
       10. The terminal according to  claim 9 , wherein the receiver is configured to:
 receive a release instruction message sent by the source cellular network node; and 
 the terminal further comprises: a release unit, configured to release configuration information of a WLAN AP managed by the source cellular network node. 
 
     
     
       11. The terminal according to  claim 9 , wherein the receiver is configured to:
 receive the configuration information that is of the WEAN AP managed by the source cellular network node and that is sent by the source cellular network node by using a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration message or a broadcast message. 
 
     
     
       12. The terminal according to  claim 9 , wherein the receiver is configured to:
 receive configuration information of an additional WLAN AP managed by the source cellular network node; or 
 receive changed configuration information of a WLAN AP whose corresponding configuration information is changed, wherein the WLAN AP is managed by the source cellular network node. 
 
     
     
       13. The terminal according to  claim 9 , wherein the receiver is configured to:
 receive an activation instruction that carries the identifier of the to-be-activated WLAN AP and that is sent by the source cellular network node. 
 
     
     
       14. The terminal according to  claim 13 , wherein the receiver is configured to:
 receive the activation instruction that carries the identifier of the to-be-activated WLAN AP and that is sent by the source cellular network node by using an RRC reconfiguration message, a medium access control MAC control element message, or a scheduling control physical downlink control channel PDCCH message. 
 
     
     
       15. The terminal according to  claim 9 , wherein configuration information of the WLAN AP comprises one or any combination of the following:
 basic service set identifier BSSID information, MAC address information, service set identifier SSID information, frequency information, bandwidth information, or channel information. 
 
     
     
       16. The terminal according to  claim 9 , wherein the source cellular network node is any one of a base station, a single RAN coordinator SRC, or an access controller AC; and the destination cellular network node is any one of a base station, an SRC, or an AC.